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So do you also hate that Israel has quotas to ONLY allow “Jewish” people to its land? Talk about REAL quotas, analyze that!

I cannot imagine a democratic system like Israel could be the only country that qualifies you based only on your Jewishness. You could be the top leading A. hole in Russia, Iran, Zimbabwe, but if you could prove your Jewishness “You are in!” Shalom…welcome to your land!”

Do you hate that too? While affirmative action looks and appears to be the boiling topic of Joe-six pack crowed, it is indeed what was needed and still needed. We all know people in position DESPITE all these anti discrimination laws get their jobs based on their racial and ethnic connections. And for sure Jews are benefiting from this. Looking at many public sector and private firms, indeed this is so clear and visible. With a country like U.S. not having such laws would turn this nation into deeper trouble.

Discrimination is REAL and takes place now and I bet you discriminate yourself, no matter if you write a thick book against it. The only way I believe you is by taking a lie detector test that is not owned and operated by a Jewish entity and has NO CONNECTION to you.

And if I read others join you to keep agreeing with you, I consider them more hypocrites than you.

Now having said that, despite seeing Iranian regime as oppressive, I support their policy of limiting girls to have higher admission rate than boys to Iranian universities.

I would like to share with you my deepest and most sincere desire for the US.
On this special wonderful occasion…(The Birthday of America, The Birthday of the modern World)…Let us all… Bask in the glory of Freedom…Let Every soul enjoy this beautiful life!!!

Yes…This is the United States of America…This is the Great America…2009…The Land of the Freedom.

Ah…How proud to be an American…And YOU must be proud YOU are an American…I LOVE AMERICA…May God Bless America on Independence Day, and Bless Freedom everywhere on the earth!!!
Happy Birthday & Long live America

Jassem Othman, Syrian

Nothing great about the Americans. Their political and business leaders are conmen of the first order. That’s why you see now the US is in a mess. The country is technically bankrupt. The Americans are actually now below poverty line living on borrowed money.

What a shame, and yet you want to claim to be the superpower of the world and trying to dictate and interfere the affairs of other countries. Very disgusting indeed.

Actually, without the slightest shadow of doubt, the Americans are hypocrite people of the first order. They are warmongers!!
I am glad that their “cowboys” in Iraq are going back to their ranch. I think they have had enough experience how to slaughter human beings. A new trade them !!

The former ex-President Bush should be on board the warship to welcome home his cowboys and declare to the American public that “MISSION UNACCOMPLISHED !! WE FAILED !! WHAT A SHAME !!

Dr. Ledeen:

I do think the selection process for America’s diplomatic corps needs a massive overhaul. The main question is exactly how America’s selection process should be changed.

Also, while I do agree with you that discrimination (whether anti-Semitic or “positive”) is wrong and goes against America’s liberal tradition of color blindness, there are limits to what can be done about it. The Republican Party won’t do much more than milk affirmative action for votes (and that’s getting old), while the Democratic Party’s present champions leave much to be desired. It looks as though America has two rival camps of bigots who congratulate themselves on how they aren’t anything like the other camp of bigots, never mind how the legacies and the tokens are in what is essentially an uneasy alliance against those free spirits who truly do believe in colorblind meritocracy.

The only way that “affirmative action” makes sense according to its own logic is to presume monopoly power and limited opportunity. Where there is competition, “affirmative action” makes no sense because the college that finds the best talent without regard to ethnicity necessarily excels academically.

I think many colleges play the “status racket”. A college that plays the “status racket” essentially acts as a matrimonial service for those who see college not as a place to learn anything but rather as a place to gain a de facto title of nobility called a college diploma. Think Faber College. In the “status racket”, any student who doesn’t help the college’s social credibility is a liability. Thus, Princeton was once notorious for keeping out blacks and Jews. Yet, when social credibility came from importing exotic pets instead, the ideal of “diversity” got established. When status is involved, one should not assume that academic achievement is anything more than a pretext for a college’s existence.

Colleges such as Harvard and Princeton should have taken a massive hit in their social prestige due to their Wilsonian legacy of race and sex discrimination. They haven’t. These colleges continue to be regarded with more prestige than they merit. Instead, America is faced with the pent up rage and bitterness of Michelle Obama and Sonia Sotomayor. Yesterday it’s Woodrow Wilson; today it’s Sonia Sotomayor; the power of each comes from an illusion of authority that the status racket provides.

It is a mistake to assume that colleges and universities are necessarily interested in academic achievement; some are. Many others are more interested in money and power, and will use academic achievement as a window dressing. To all too many university administrators, social prestige and fashion are far more important than knowledge. Once one keeps that in mind, policies of discrimination make sense in terms of power politics.

Although the status racket exists in America, the United States is far from alone in falling into that trap. For example, Mr. Khamenei’s title of “ayatollah” should be considered to be a political title rather than recognition of his scholarship.

Alexis,

The title “ayahtollah” is irrelevent in Islamic religion. All Muslims are treated equal. There is only one title in Islam ie the prophets, messengers of God. Musa, Isa, Mohammad and few other prophets.

“for those who see college not as a place to learn anything”

Few people attend college “to learn anything.” That is a secondary consideration. They are there primarily to acquire a degree—so that they can eventually earn a good living. The liberal arts essentially comprise the disciplines the “winners” could care less about. The hard science majors consider these courses a waste of time. Those studying business related subjects are focussing on getting their resumes ready for a Goldman Sachs interview. Anything else is deemed a distraction. This makes it almost ridiculously easy for the leftists to dominate the softer sciences. One more often than not today must be an intellectual whore to survive a liberal arts curriculum.

“Send a Copt to Pretoria and an African-American to Paris.” H^ll yeah.

Hey, why don’t we send a Kenyan to the White House?

“Send Ms. Pandith to Rome (she served two years in the European Bureau, after all), and send a WASP to Buenos Aires or Mexico City. Send a Copt to Pretoria and an African-American to Paris.”

I verify. That is a good method.

And look, you could send ANY American to be ambassador to my home planet, New Jersey!

After all, this is Be Nice To New Jersey Week.

Mr. Ledeen,

First word to last I concur.

Thanks.

And happy (belated) 4th of July.

Send a Muslim to Muslims if you want us to listen. She’ll know what a Muslim wants and how Muslims reason. Send us a Jew and we’ll bear their presence but not their words. How can you sanction the killing of innocent people while plundering their lands and come and tell me to hold my peace and let us workk together?